A Dessert Crawl of the Best Desserts in Lagos
Have you ever had cake so good that you look at it and go “I want to marry you.”? No? Oh wow, Ihave.
I’m a big fan of desserts, and most times I simply want to skip the main course and go straight to the sweets. I spent a few days earlier this week doing just that - a dessert crawl to discover the best desserts in Lagos. I went to a number of restaurants that were shortlisted from Twitter responses and went straight to the dessert menu. These are my findings:
What? Talindo Steakhouse
Where? Victoria Island
I ordered the New York Cheesecake which is a classic cheesecake with forest berry compote. It arrived quickly, service was on point.
This was good, creamy, and delicious. The compote was a perfect complement. I wish there had been more compote, but overall very nice.
Ed Note: Unless you particularly hate brownies, the sizzling brownie is THE WAY to go at Talindo.
What? Ice Cream Factory
Where? Lekki, Maryland, Ikeja
Not a restaurant but I HAD to go there to check out this Red Velvet Cheesecake that we’d heard so much about.
Before I get to that. Double Chocolate Chip Muffin. That’s it. That’s the tweet. Please, if you haven’t tried the Ice Cream Factory’s muffins then you’re doing Lagos wrong. Any self-respecting dessert lover should go there at least once a day. Okay, I’m kidding. No, I'm not.
Now that’s out of the way. The red velvet cheesecake too, is top-notch stuff. It has just the right amount of moist, absolutely delicious.
What? Atmosphere Rooftop Bar
Where? Lekki Phase One
I ordered the Deep Dish Cookie (a chocolate chip cookie with vanilla ice cream) and it took FOREVER to arrive and when it finally did, I was disappointed. I hated everything about it except dark chocolate chip in the cookie, and that only slightly placated because I was thoroughly annoyed that it took forever to arrive.
I also enjoyed the contrasting temperatures of the warm cookie and the cold of the vanilla ice cream, but overall not a fan.
What? RSVP
Where? Victoria Island
RSVP had the most extensive dessert menu of all the restaurants I visited. They have 6 unique desserts, and some come with options. Every other restaurant had restaurants had a maximum of three options. At RSVP, I had the Chocolate Fondant; it’s a homemade molten chocolate cake served with vanilla ice cream.
This dessert had the prettiest presentation, the molten cake came in a cute little black pot and was very hot. It was delicious, this was perfect. The cake was gorgeous, especially in the middle, with the molten dark chocolate. The ice cream was creamy, the texture was great, and the two components of the cake and ice cream perfectly complemented each other.
I had a taste of the lemon meringue sorbet my friend bought. It was tart, almost sharp. I loved the flavour.
What? Crust and Cream
Where? Victoria Island
At Crust and Cream, which seems to be a dessert favourite for a lot of people on my twitter, I had the Banana Split: a caramelized banana, strawberry, fresh cream topped with special sauce, and vanilla ice cream.
I asked our waiter what the ‘special sauce’ was and he told me it was made of maple syrup, whipped cream, and chocolate syrup whipped together. The soft-serve ice cream was not mind-blowing, kinda tasted like banana and groundnuts, it was topped with nuts.
I liked the chocolate syrup and the contrasting textures of the whipped cream, vanilla ice cream, and nuts. However, I could not taste strawberry. Altogether not a bad dessert, I didn’t enjoy it much though.
What? Orchid Bistro
Where? Ikeja, Ikoyi
I had the Key Lime Pie and it was awful. The crust was too sweet and the flavour of the lime wasn’t prominent in fact, it was barely there. All I could taste was sugar. No. This was basically an open letter of invitation to diabetes.
Honourable Mentions
These are places I didn’t visit on this crawl but definitely stand out from my previous experiences.
Hans & René - Hans and René have an innovative range of gelato. I love the Nigerian inspired flavours like Agbalumo and Zobo sorbet amongst others. They also have one of my favourite chocolate chip cookies on the planet. Top-notch service too.
Cold Stone - Is this list even complete without Cold Stone? No. I’m sure you know what I'm talking about so I'd just leave this here.
Chocolate Royal - Whenever I walk into Chocolat Royal, I always feel like a kid in a toy store who wants every single thing on the shelf. Unlike an exasperated mother though, the person saying no is my own voice of reason, reminding me about calories and my bank account. The only thing you shouldn’t buy from Chocolat Royal is the vanilla ice cream, Maltesers topping, and the flower cone. Do not do it. Every other dessert though? On point.
XO Bakery - This small, adorable cafe shares a compound with La Taverna. If you’re ever in the area, you should definitely drop in and try their apple crumble. They also have bubble Tii for sale there, talk about killing two birds with a stone.